Korean Job Discussion Forums

[haute4teacher]

Went to the zoo with my gf this weekend. Don't ever, ever do it here. Besides the 10ft by 10ft enclosures, everyone else visiting felt obligated to throw handfuls of their food at the animals. They fed the giraffe random plants. A baby monkey got out of the cage and parents were encouraging their children to touch it and feed it, while the mother was against the bars wailing. I didn't see one employee.
I should have known better, i can't stop watching that program where they dress up the monkey and have it walk the dog around, managing to abuse 2 animals at once.
It was upsetting to say the least. They even had dogs in cages and rats seemed to be a part of every exhibit.

[ajgeddes]

If you are talking about the Seoul Grand Park Zoo, I will agree that it is the most disgusting zoo I have ever seen. Aside from a few animals, the others are essentially being tortured by having to live there. Where the apes, gorillas and chimps live is just sad and I actually felt sad seeing it.

[jaganath69]

Yeah, been to Daejeon zoo and it's not much better. Animals in cramped, shabby conditions who look depressed. Spakling!

[cj1976]

It seems that Koreans don't really share the same ideas when it comes to the welfare of animals. I went to Seoul Grand Park and the kids were feeding sugary snacks to the wolves. Nobody seemed to think it was anything to be concerned about - their parents were actually encoraging it. I'm no animal rights activist, but I was quite angry at the time. The sheer fukking stupidity of some people here gets to me sometimes.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

[blaseblasphemener]

video anyone? sounds like someone needs to send off a video to PETA. It's been a good long while since Korea was put on the defensive about it's abysmal animal rights record.

[Evil Boweevil]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Chillin' Villain]

[brento1138]

Back when I was working in a hakwon, we took the kiddies to like the cheapest, worst zoo I've ever seen. It was somewhere near Daegu. I mean, they even had farm animals there. And a dog. It just sucked beyond belief... not interestin... So yeah, cramped, dirty cages, animals looked like they were near death, etc. Kids could pick up sticks and poke the animals. Or rattle the cages of the snakes or rats or whatever.

Thing is, the kids really enjoyed it. And when I was a kid, I remember going to zoos where the animals were definitely locked up in a very crappy environment for them... But I didn't know any better. I enjoyed it then. But yeah, once I got older, seeing these animals cramped in small cages is... well, I guess uncool. I remember once, when I was a kid, banging on the glass of some Orangutan ... anyhow... it ran up to me, so quickly, and banged back on the glass! I was so scared... last time I ever did that. Haha...

Having been to the nicely planned Calgary Zoo in Canada, I'd say other zoos could do much better with a bit of planning.

Thanks for advising against this zoo!

[butlerian]

[seoulman1]

does this disregard for animal rights in Korea stem from the fact that there is little to no large wild animals in Korea (from what I know of)?

I know there is a squirrel and I think there is a bear but apart from that, Korea and Japan is virtually extinct of animals in comparison with Australia the US and Canada..

Actually what is funny is the Korean treatment of animals, can probably be compared to their treatment of foreigners going under the ol' non Korean title.

As others have said this kind of thing just cant go on. Hopefully Korea's push to become tourist friendly will force them to clean up what is clearly bad treatment of animals.

[butlerian]

[Beej]

[VanIslander]

i used to think Koreans were oblivious because of a lack of empathy in social conditioning and truncated imports of christian sympathy

these days i just think THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN about the feelings of animals or even people outside their realm of obligation

they - as a culture, concerning the majority - are much like a toddler who pulls the cat along by the tail